Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Salvarani]

It has to be said that UAE was pretty mediocre in the mountains. Lack of Almeida and relatively poor form of Yates made them inferior to Visma and cost Pogacar at least one stage. He was strong enough to fend off any challenges though. His decisive attack came at the base of a climb (Hautacam) after an uphill sprint by a hills specialist Narvaez.

Yates was very good Loze at least.

 

[BubbaChuck]

mercx was winning tour by 20 minutes,what competition.

 

[Cycling111]

Yates was very good Loze at least.

I disagree. That happened because Visma decided not to continue, allowing Yates' group to return when they were more than two minutes behind with Onley.
But the reality is that Yates was dropped on the penultimate climb at Kuss's pace, leaving Pogacar isolated too early.

 

[Salvarani]

I disagree. That happened because Visma decided not to continue, allowing Yates' group to return when they were more than two minutes behind with Onley.
But the reality is that Yates was dropped on the penultimate climb at Kuss's pace, leaving Pogacar isolated too early.

I dont agree with you.

He rode Loze as one of the last remaining riders and controlled perfectly.

 

[BubbaChuck]

this is one of arare sport,where your results are being compared with 70 years ago.Lets be serius,it was differentt sport back than.

 

[Lequack]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1949377224013926468

View: https://x.com/BikeBlz/status/1949377224013926468

Meanwhile:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1949122395861565673

View: https://x.com/LeTour/status/1949122395861565673

 

[yaf2]

mercx was winning tour by 20 minutes,what competition.

Exactly! Thats the ridiculous part. Imagine comparing chris froome & pogacar for who is the best gc rider just because both have 4tdf. Froome was competing with the bardet & quintanas of this world while pog is winning against one of the best gc riders of all time in vingegaard(his watts/kilo defines that). Froomes power numbers were nowhere near close compared to the greats like contador(2009-11) pog & ving,roglic.. just b/c somebody wins as many tours as someone doesn't mean he is as good as them & the era they existed in matters & also thats why comparing pog & merckx is irrelevant b/c merckx was competing with riders predominantly from 4 nations & half a peleton of part time workers.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Pogacar should go on vacations 10 days and see how he is to face Vingegaard in the Vuelta. Route is perfect for him, specially when he will have a better team than Vingegaard

 

[Revelation]

His mentality the past week from so has been such a departure from what we've seen from him previously, I'm almost 100% certain it's not because of Visma's tactics, or the race being hard, or him generally hating GTs. I think he generally doesn't appreciate the dangerous way of riding of the current era, which was best exemplified in the first 11 stages, so to be taken out by an insane move in the last 5k of that stretch probably was very frustrating. Add to that the obvious cold (importantly which Vingo didn't get), combined with the weather suddenly becoming terrible, and you have and almost worst case scenario, which drained him in every aspect and was undoubtedly very unpleasant. I still feel, barring there being some external political reasons, if he doesn't catch the cold, he wins 7 stages and leads by 7 minutes. In comparison, last year, even though he was also drained after the tour, the positive mentality was there all the way and he won the last 3 stages.

I mean, it's basically that, or he somehow suddenly developed an early-life crisis in the middle of this tour out of nowhere.

 

[Peyroteo94]

His mentality the past week from so has been such a departure from what we've seen from him previously, I'm almost 100% certain it's not because of Visma's tactics, or the race being hard, or him generally hating GTs. I think he generally doesn't appreciate the dangerous way of riding of the current era, which was best exemplified in the first 11 stages, so to be taken out by an insane move in the last 5k of that stretch probably was very frustrating. Add to that the obvious cold (importantly which Vingo didn't get), combined with the weather suddenly becoming terrible, and you have and almost worst case scenario, which drained him in every aspect and was undoubtedly very unpleasant. I still feel, barring there being some external political reasons, if he doesn't catch the cold, he wins 7 stages and leads by 7 minutes. In comparison, last year, even though he was also drained after the tour, the positive mentality was there all the way and he won the last 3 stages.

I mean, it's basically that, or he somehow suddenly developed an early-life crisis in the middle of this tour out of nowhere.

The first week took a lot of energy and mental health. Pogacar looks tired, it is quite obvious he doesn't love to race GTs, specially when Visma play with everything they can, even if sometimes they break some moral rules.

 

[BigCoward]

mercx was winning tour by 20 minutes,what competition.

He was losing one by about 7 mins before Ocana crashed out.

 

[Cycling111]

He was losing one by about 7 mins before Ocana crashed out.

Ocaña was his greatest rival in the Tour, but he was emotionally unstable and suffered from bouts of depression, which led to a highly inconsistent career. Furthermore, after that accident, he was never the same.
He committed suicide at 48.

 

[YavorD]

mercx was winning tour by 20 minutes,what competition.

All time greats like Gimondi?

 

[BubbaChuck]

Just look at the discussion.20 minutes,7 minutes and 300 victories.once again.lets be reasonable.Pog is goat of modern era by country mile,this makes him one of best sportsman ever.This is not up to debate.

 

[Cycling111]

What I like about Merckx's era is that there was no earpiece.

I think Vingegaard would have suffered more without them. Pogacar has always been a more instinctive cyclist.

In the last World Championship, he took advantage of those circumstances.

Racing without an earpiece favored aggressive cyclists, as it was more difficult to control the race.

 

[Peyroteo94]

He was losing one by about 7 mins before Ocana crashed out.

I already told this multiple times, Merckx wasn't a world class climber. He just cooked all pure climbers on rolling terrain.

 

[BubbaChuck]

''It's the final day of our public vote 'GREATEST TOUR RIDER' competition. The final is between Mark Cavendish and Tadej Pogačar - VOTE NOW via the ITVSport Instagram!''
Bahhhhhaaa,my lord.

 

[Charlyghoul]

You can’t compare the distance between first and second in Merckx era to now. The racing was different then, much less communication between teams, mechanicals set riders back usually a lot more, often longer stages, different team structures, the overall race distance was usually quite a bit longer, roads were in worse condition. For starters.
You may as well compare Pogacar’s era with Garin’s era

 

[Charlyghoul]

It’s a difficult one to compare eras, but without Vingegaard everyone would be saying that Pogacar’s era is dreadful with no competition whatsoever. We’d be bored to tears now by Pog

 

[YellowSocks]

I mean, it's basically that, or he somehow suddenly developed an early-life crisis in the middle of this tour out of nowhere.

I think he's following certain instructions, whether they come from the UCI or from his team. In any case, that's the best explanation I can find for this last week, which looks like burn out to me.
In addition to being freezing cold at the end of each stage, which indicates physical disorder, he seems exasperated and laughs nervously quite often.
He said ‘The team pays you to win.’ It seemed cynical coming from him (where has the ‘guy who enjoys riding his bike’ gone?). Every contract, especially at this level of remuneration, comes with obligations.
And then he stopped winning...
Faust syndrom.
#FreePogacar

 

[Peyroteo94]

You can’t compare the distance between first and second in Merckx era to now. The racing was different then, much less communication between teams, mechanicals set riders back usually a lot more, often longer stages, different team structures, the overall race distance was usually quite a bit longer, roads were in worse condition. For starters.
You may as well compare Pogacar’s era with Garin’s era

Hard to compare eras without a doubt but cycling is way more globalized nowadays. This is a fact.

 

[Peyroteo94]

It is just a embaressment to compare Merckx to Pogacar when talking about raw talent. There is zero doubt in my mind Pogacar is better, he needs to win way more (all GTs, all monuments) to be considered the Goat but in other way it is also difficult to accept Merckx is the Goat of cycling when we look to races like RVV and PR and most riders in the top10 (6,7,8) are belgian riders. It is also like a Nationals championship.

 

[Revelation]

In the midst of this doom-and-gloom, it's good to remember that winning the Tour/beating Vingo was not even the main goal, but THE goal. Even if the difference is that this Tour results in him not going to Vuelta and Vingo easily winning, compared to a clean Tour results in him destroying Vingo at Vuelta, it's still a 90+% success. The only way that number can decrease significantly if this Tour has an effect on his longevity and GTs past this year, but I doubt that.

I guess it had an effect on getting the stage win record, but I still consider that very likely.

 

[Lequack]

“His sulking, his grumbling, his general bad mood for several days has been clouding and disrupting the atmosphere at the end of the Tour de France,” wrote Alexandre Roos. “Because how can we be enthusiastic if the Yellow Jersey himself gives the impression of being bored, of living a painful experience, of sulking when he has achieved an exceptional race, four stage victories, and total mastery?”

Is Tadej Pogacar bored by his own dominance? - Tour de France analysis

Tadej PogaÄar will win a fourth Tour de France in Paris on Sunday, but observers have noted that the Slovenian has seemed to take rather less joy fromâ¦

www.domestiquecycling.com

 

[Peyroteo94]

This is just a joke. How can someone compare these RVV to those Pogacar won?
The amount of belgian riders in the top 10.

Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres 1969 One day race results

Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres 1969 was won by Eddy Merckx before Felice Gimondi and Marino Basso.

www.procyclingstats.com

Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres 1970 One day race results

Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres 1970 was won by Eric Leman before Walter Godefroot and Eddy Merckx.

www.procyclingstats.com

Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres 1971 One day race results

Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres 1971 was won by Evert Dolman before Frans Kerremans and Cyrille Guimard.

www.procyclingstats.com

Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres 1972 One day race results

Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres 1972 was won by Eric Leman before André Dierickx and Frans Verbeeck.

www.procyclingstats.com

Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres 1973 One day race results

Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres 1973 was won by Eric Leman before Freddy Maertens and Eddy Merckx.

www.procyclingstats.com

Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres 1974 One day race results

Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres 1974 was won by Kees Bal before Frans Verbeeck and Walter Godefroot.

www.procyclingstats.com

Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres 1975 One day race results

Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres 1975 was won by Eddy Merckx before Frans Verbeeck and Marc Demeyer.

www.procyclingstats.com